Rob McCue
Rob McCue was a contestant on Season 8 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 8th place. Personality Rob was a funny contestant who could make good jokes at times, especially at himself. In the kitchen, despite having a good start and showing many flashes of brilliance, he was an inconsistent performer as he made a lot of mistakes and complained about the help that was not coming, especially from Russell who he had a short-lived running feud with due to the latter's bullying nature. Season 8 Episode 1 After James introduced himself, all the chefs put blindfolds on, and were taken to the prize restaurant, the LA Market, in Los Angeles. Then, they returned to Hell's Kitchen, and were asked to cook their signature dishes. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Rob was given Antonia's gumbo to taste, and called it completely repulsive, even stating he would have rather had a cat shit in his mouth instead. He was the fourth person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Jillian. He made a pistachio-crusted rack of lamb, but Ramsay found the lamb poorly cut along with it having raw fat on it. He lost the round to Jillian, but the blue team eventually won the challenge after a tiebreaker at 3. They were rewarded with massages, champagne, and caviar, up in the dorms. During dinner service, Rob was on the fish station with Vinny. He was not seen much, but both teams were named joint-losers, and were asked to nominate two people each. He was not nominated for elimination. Episode 2 During the Sushi Challenge, Rob was paired with Louis. They only managed to get 4 of their 9 pieces accepted because they failed to put wasabi in all of their tuna nigiri. Despite that, the blue team won the challenge 16-15, and they were rewarded with a trip to Cellar 360 in San Francisco with Ramsay, where they did a wine tasting, and ate dinner at the Water Bar restaurant. He also got to keep his Morimoto knife that was used during the challenge. During dinner service, Rob was on the meat station with Russell. He was not seen much as the blue team got ejected from the kitchen before moving on to entrées. The blue team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people. He was not nominated for elimination. Episode 3 Back in the dorms, Rob expressed surprise that Curtis was sent home while Raj, who he referred to as a lunatic, was still around. During the Paramedic Service Challenge, Rob was on the fruit salad station. He noticed that none of his teammates came to help him. When he sent his first fruit bowl, it did not have pineapple in it, although he was able to quickly put them. The blue team eventually lost the challenge, and they were punished by polishing 250 stemware glasses for the next service, and cleaning both kitchens. During dinner service, Rob was on the garnish station with Russell. He was not seen much, except at one point when he begged Raj not to talk to Ramsay after his raw salmon got smashed. The blue team won the service as they received a 54% approval rating from their customers, compared to the red team's 50% approval rating. At elimination, Rob and the blue team expressed relief when Raj was eliminated, and all the men thanked Ramsay for it. Episode 4 Back in the dorms, the blue team were extremely happy about Raj's elimination, and Rob even said it felt like he lost a 100-pound gorilla from his back. Then, the men toasted to a new beginning with champagne glasses. During the Ravioli Challenge, Rob was the second person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Jillian. He made a shrimp mousse ravioli with lemon zest and chive, and Ramsay said it tasted good despite being concerned by the word mousse. So, he tied the round with Jillian, and he was happy that he made something Ramsay liked. The blue team won the challenge 4-3, and they were rewarded with a helicopter trip to Palos Verdes to an oceanside resort, Terranea Resort, where they played golf and ate dinner. During the helicopter ride, he said he was able to cross it off his bucket list, and during the golf game, he was amazed when Vinny was able to get his ball closest to the pin. When Trev began to argue how the men did not taste his dish and felt excluded from the team, he told Trev to stop stinking up their great moment. During the Italian Night dinner service, Rob was on the pizza station. At one point, James came back with one of his rock shrimp pizzas that was burnt at the bottom. After getting chewed out by Ramsay for hiding his mistake, he was sent to the bar area to eat the pizza, and felt humiliated. Later, the red team came over to help the blue team on their remaining tickets, but both teams got confused on orders, leading Ramsay to eject both teams from service. Both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate two people each. Rob was not nominated for elimination despite being considered by Boris. Episode 5 During the Prom Planning Challenge, Rob presented the blue team's first entrée, which was a pan-seared halibut over a light seafood broth. Despite being flavorable, it was deemed rough and dry, and he lost the round to the red team. The blue team lost the challenge 0-3, and they were punished by decorating the dining room for the next service, under the prom committee's supervision. During the punishment, he decided to have a little fun by pretending one of the linens was his prom dress, but James sternly warned him not to cause any creases. As the red team came back with stuffed animals, he stated he wanted to beat them more than ever. During the Prom Night dinner service, Rob was on the appetizer station. He was not seen much, except at one point when he compared Boris to a malfunctioning machine when the latter brought up a cold crab cake. The blue team won the service. Back in the dorms, Rob was seen questioning Sabrina's elimination to nominate Emily, and along with Russell, agreed with Jillian to nominate Gail instead. Episode 6 Back in the dorms, Rob noticed that the red team was crumbling apart, which the rest of the blue team agreed with. Before the next challenge, the blue team said goodbye to Trev, who was transferred to the red team, and welcomed Melissa as a new teammate. When Rob found out that they would be doing the Salad Challenge, he was a little worried as he was not a salad person. During the challenge, he struggled on cooking his scallops, and raced to cook them properly. He was the second person from the blue team to compete, and went up against Nona. Despite his concerns, his pan-seared diver scallop salad with roasted portabella and grapefruit vinaigrette was praised for its perfectly cooked scallops, even though his dressing overpowered the other flavors. He won the round over Nona, and the blue team eventually won the challenge after his dish was declared the best of the day. They were rewarded with a day at Malibu for lunch at The Getty Vella. In addition, not only would his salad be featured in Bon Appétit magazine, he joined Tenaglia and Ramsay for a photo shoot, and his salad would be featured during the next service. During the photo shoot, he was the brunt of Ramsay's jokes when he asked the photographer if he could make him 90 pounds lighter, and stated that one photo looked like he ate a sofa. Before service began, Ramsay asked Rob if the blue team was stronger without Trev, which he answered they were. During dinner service, he was on the salad station, and was a waiter for the chefs table of the blue kitchen. He took the orders without problems, but when he sent his first scallop salad, they came out raw, and Russell told him to make sure that Melissa's next attempts would be acceptable. Unfortunately, Melissa kept burning scallops and he rejected all of them, and then, he got shocked when Melissa revealed that she burned 7 pounds of scallops. Both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate one person each. He was not nominated for elimination. Episode 7 During the Roulette Challenge, Rob landed on S and chose sea bass. During the challenge, he told his teammates that he would blanch their asparagus and yams, and while Russell suggested to add some seasoning to the vegetables, he was against that. That came to haunt them as the blue team eventually lost the challenge because of their unseasoned vegetables. They were punished by taking a delivery of 1,000 potatoes, and prepping them for French fries which would be used for a special Family Night dinner service. During the punishment, he opened the truck doors, which caused a mountain of potatoes to come down on him. During the Family Night dinner service, Rob was on the garnish station. While working on Ramsay's family ticket, he got behind for the macaroni and cheese, and despite asking Russell for some help, the latter did not. Later, he was still slow on garnishes, but because of Vinny's assistance, he was able to send out the macaroni and cheese to Ramsay's son. Despite both teams being named joint-winners for having a 90% approval rating from the customers, Ramsay still asked them for two nominees each. Rob was the blue team's second nominee for elimination, with Boris being the first, but only him was called down, along with Nona from the red team. During his plea, he revealed that he had no support from his team, and that Russell could have come to his station to help out multiple times, despite Russell arguing otherwise. After, Ramsay asked for his jacket, but survived elimination when he received a clean jacket. He told Ramsay he could not do that to a fat guy, and before being dismissed, Ramsay jokingly said that he could feel his heart racing afterwards. Episode 8 Back in the dorms, Rob was relieved to have survived elimination, but he and Vinny knew that Russell only nominated him to get rattled, and both of them agreed to get rid of him. During the Budget Challenge, Rob called Russell a douchebag for micromanaging the blue team. He went up against Nona on the beef round, and served a grilled New York strip with crispy shitake mushrooms. While it was praised for being light, the dish was criticized for having too many onions, and he only received an average of $26. The blue team eventually lost the challenge $101-$110, and they were punished by deep cleaning the dining room, and fumigating both kitchens for the next service. During the punishment, he was pissed that he had to clean, and barely helped out as he openly said that he hated losing. While fumigating, he split his jumpsuit, and rudely told the red team to leave. During the 100th Hell's Kitchen dinner service, Rob was on the meat station. He helped Boris a lot on the appetizer station, and it was because of his help that appetizers were sent out. However, on entrées, he asked Russell for times, but did not get any response, and complained that he was not getting any help. That forced him to drag the chicken for eight minutes due to not hearing the order earlier, and the dining room felt the effect because of it. Later, he was still struggling with the chicken, and called out four more minutes, but Ramsay informed him that the red team only had one ticket left to fire, while the blue team had nine tickets left due to his earlier mistakes. When he sent up pink chicken, a fed up Ramsay ejected the blue team from service. The blue team lost the service, and Ramsay asked them to nominate two people for elimination. Rob was tied as the second nominee with Vinny, while Boris was the first. During his plea, he said that Vinny’s station was dragging hard. He survived elimination. Episode 9 After Boris' elimination, Rob welcomed back Trev to the blue team, as they were down two members. During the Blind Taste Test, Rob was the second person from the blue team to compete, and went up against Sabrina. He failed to score a point, and the blue team eventually lost the challenge 5-6. They were punished by sorting through trash from different restaurants for recycling, eating cheese sandwiches for lunch, and prepping both kitchens for the next service. During the punishment, he was blamed by Russell for costing them the challenge, but he responded it was a team effort. During dinner service, Rob was on the fish station. One of his scallops was raw without sear on them, and after being forced to eat one, he was ordered to wake up as Ramsay reminded him that the red team was on their fifth ticket, while the blue team was on their second. However, his second attempt came out raw again as Sous Chef Scott believed that his pan was not hot enough. That caused Ramsay to cook an order of scallops for him. Later, he was seen struggling on his halibut, and despite sending it to the pass, it was raw. Then, Ramsay pulled him to the dining room, and warned him to either wake up in the next five minutes, or fuck off. Also, he complained that Russell was not acting like a leader, but more like a whiny bitch when Ramsay was around, while going silent when he was gone. Despite that, his halibut was finally accepted. When Vinny and Russell were ejected from service, Ramsay warned him that if he would fuck up one more time, he could either be sent up to the dorms, or by the front door. Shortly after, he sent a raw halibut, and he was kicked out of the kitchen. However, he confusingly asked why he was getting kicked out, only for Ramsay to angrily yell that he was getting ejected because of the raw halibut. The blue team lost the service, and Trev was named "Best of the Worst". Rob was Trev's first nominee for elimination, with Russell being the second. He was eliminated for his declining performances and the fact that Ramsay could not carry him any longer. Ramsay's comment: "If the size of one's waist corresponds to the size of one's talent, then Rob would be a fantastic chef. Instead, he just wears gigantic pants." Episode 15 When he returned for the final dinner service, Rob was Russell's last pick, following Jillian, Vinny, and Sabrina. During dinner service, Rob was on the appetizer station. Late into service, he announced that he was out of tomato water for the ravioli, which pissed off Russell as he did not warn him earlier. Despite a frustrated Russell warning him that he was pissing off the wrong person, he talked back and the two of them almost had a physical confrontation, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Russell eventually lost the finals to Nona. Nomination history Trivia *After his appearance on the show, he appeared on Bravo TV's show Chef Roble and Co, and now runs a gastropub called The Fat Monk, in New York City. Quotes *(About Antonia's signature dish) "It was completely repulsive. I would rather have, a cat shit in my mouth than have eaten that any further." *(About Raj) "I'm more shocked that lunatic is still here." *"You can't do that to a fat guy, Chef!" *(After being eliminated) "I had a one in seven shot at this point to win the prize and I'm just pissed that I didn't make it further and it's unfortunate because I think the wrong guy went home tonight but I guess everybody says that." External Links * Category:Chef Category:Season 8 Category:New Yorkers Category:Final Service Brigade Category:8th Place